Table 2.

Charting categories and associated content for the general information on the benchmarking studies

First author (Year)	Aim	Area of practice
Brucker (2008) [27]	Establish a nationwide network of breast centres; to define suitable quality indicators (QIs) for benchmarking the quality of breast cancer (BC) care; to demonstrate existing differences in BC care quality; and to show that BC care quality improved with benchmarking from 2003 to 2007.	Breast cancer centers Germany
Chung (2010) [17]	Developing organization-based core measures for colorectal cancer patient care and apply these measures to compare hospital performance.	Hospitals registered in the TCDB program in Taiwan
Hermann (2006) [18]	To identify quality measures for international benchmarking of mental healthcare that assess important processes and outcomes of care, are scientifically sound, and are feasible to construct from pre-existing data.	Mental health care professionals from six countries (UK, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and the USA) and one international organization, the European Society for Quality in Healthcare (ESQH)
Mainz (2009) [19]	Describing and analyzing the quality of care for important diseases in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden).	Cancer treatment facilities from the different Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden)
Miransky (2003) [20]	Describing the development of a database for benchmarking outcomes for cancer patients.	A consortium of 12 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the US
Roberts (2012) [28]	The study had three main aims, to: (i) adapt the acuity-quality workforce planning method used extensively in the UK National Health Service (NHS) for use in hospices; (ii) compare hospice and NHS palliative care staffing establishments and their implications; and (iii) create ward staffing benchmarks and formulae for hospice managers.	Twenty-three palliative care and hospice wards, geographically representing England.
Setoguchi (2008) [24]	Comparing prospectively and retrospectively defined benchmarks for the quality of end-of-life care, including a novel indicator for the use of opiate analgesia.	Seniors with breast, colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer who participated in state pharmaceutical benefit programs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Stewart (2007) [21]	Develop tools that lead to better-informed decision making regarding practice management and physician deployment in comprehensive cancer centers and determine benchmarks of productivity using RVUs (Relative value units) accrued by physicians at each institution.	13 major academic cancer institutions with membership or shared membership in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
Stolar (2010) [22]	Performing a blinded confidential financial performance survey of similar university pediatric surgery sections to start benchmarking performance and define relationships.	19 pediatric surgery sections of university children’s hospitals
Van Vliet (2010) [23]	Comparing process designs of three high-volume cataract pathways in a lean thinking framework and to explore how efficiency in terms of lead times, hospital visits and costs is related to process design.	Three eye hospitals in the UK, the USA and the Netherlands
Wallwiener (2011) [25]	Summarize the rationale for the creation of breast centres and discus the studies conducted in Germany. To obtain proof of principle for a voluntary, external benchmarking programme and proof of concept for third-party dual certification of breast centres and their mandatory quality management systems.	Breast centers in Germany
Wesselman (2014) [26]	Present data from the third annual analysis of the DKG-certified colorectal cancer centers with a particular focus on indicators for colorectal cancer surgery.	Colorectal cancer centers certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG)
Barr (2012) [30]	Revision of 2011 predictions with the use of National Practice Benchmark (NPB) reports from 2011 and development of new predictions. Design of a conceptual framework for contemplating these data based on an ecological model of the oncology delivery system.	Oncology practices in the USA
Brann (2011) [31]	The performance of child and adolescent mental health organizations. To provide an overview of the findings from two projects, undertaken to explore the variability in organizations’ performances on particular KPIs (key performance indicators).	Six child and adolescent mental health organizations
De Korne (2010) [3]	The purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of an international benchmarking initiative in eye hospitals.	Nine eye hospitals spread over Asia (3), Australia (1), Europe (4), and North America (1).
De Korne (2012) [29]	The aims of this study were to assess the applicability of a benchmarking project in U.S. eye hospitals and compare the results with an international initiative.	Five eye hospitals in the US
Schwappach (2003) [32]	Assess the effects of uniform indicator measurement and group benchmarking. This was followed by hospital-specific activities on clinical performance measures and patients’ experiences with emergency care in Switzerland.	Emergency departments of 12 community hospitals in Switzerland, participating in the ‘Emerge’ project.
Shaw (2003) [33]	To answer basic questions, using precise definitions, regarding emergency department (ED) utilization, wait times, services, and attending physician staffing of representative pediatric EDs (PEDs).	21 Pediatric emergency departments (PED) from 14 states of the USA.
Van Lent (2010) [6]	Examine benchmarking as part of an approach to improve performance in specialty hospitals	International comprehensive cancer centres (CCC) or departments within a CCC in Europe and the US
Ellershaw (2008) [34]	To evaluate the utility of participating in two benchmarking exercises to assess the care delivered to patients in the dying phase using the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP).	Two cancer networks in the northwest of England
Ellis (2006) [35]	Review published descriptions of benchmarking activity and synthesize benchmarking principles to encourage the acceptance and use of Essence of Care as a new approach to continuous quality improvement, and to promote its acceptance as an integral and effective part of benchmarking activity in health services.	NHS (UK)
Matykiewicz (2005) [36]	Introduce Essence of Care, a benchmarking tool for health care practitioners and an integral part of the UK National Health Service (NHS) Clinical Governance agenda	Health care practitioners NHS (UK)
Profit (2010) [37]	To present a conceptual framework to develop comprehensive, robust, and transparent composite indicators of pediatric care quality, and to highlight aspects specific to quality measurement in children.	The Pediatric Data Quality Systems (Pedi-QS) Collaborative Measures Workgroup (consensus panel by the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions, Child Health Corporation of America, and Medical Management Planning)
Greene (2009) [38]	Describing The Role of the Hospital Registry in Achieving Outcome Benchmarks in Cancer Care	Carolinas Medical Center (US)